I have only used gas checked bullets up until now.I have seen a few plain based bullets I would like to try but have stayed away due to horror stories about leading.How many of you cast shooters shoot PB?What is your preferences and why?

I shoot PB's in my SBH .44 mag and FA 83's .454 and .500 WE with no problems. They are wheel weight alloy and I don't load them over 1200 fps.

Some leading problems can be due to bore condition or quality.

Maybe 500WE will jump in here as he has literally TONS of experience with cast lead bullets.

I have shot plain based lead in multipul calibers and found that if kept at or under 1000fps leading is min and pleasure is max.

It gets harder as the barrels get longer because a 800fps in a five inch will be at or over 1000fps in a 10 inch (say a contender).

The type of powder also will affect this and although I found the Trail Boss dirtier than Unique in my revolvers it shoots clean in my .44 Mag TC. Trail Boss was developed specialy for cast bullets. Their web site lists min to max loads for most handgun caliars including .44 Mag. Good luck.

In my rather limited experience, I've found leading (or lack thereof) has very little to do with how fast bullets are pushed. More important seem to be bullet size vs. throat size, bullet size vs. groove diameter, bullet base style, and bullet hardness.

Bullet fit seems most important to prevent most leading. Bullets too small or too large for the throats and bore produce leading. The throats and bore should be in proper relationship with each other. It does little good to squeeze a bullet down through a tight throat into a much larger bore. Guns with this issue can benefit from having their throats opened up some and bullets sized to match.

I've also experienced more leading from bevel-base bullets than those with a flat base. I think this lets burning gasses get past the base of a bullet and "melt" the sides of the bullet, increasing leading. There is no way for the bullet to obturate and seal the bore.

Proper bullet hardness helps to reduce leading, too. Most shooters shoot an alloy too hard for handgun velocities. The bullet should be soft enough to obturate the base of the bullet when it's fired to seal the bore. An alloy that's too hard prevents this and allows burning gasses to surround and pass the base of the bullet, increasing leading. Wheel weight alloy is perfect for probably 99% of handgun requirements.

I too shoot plain base cast bullets in my .475 Linebaugh and have experienced zero leading issues.

I shoot plain base in many calibers and have done so for a long time and actually prefer them to the gas checked variations. If you watch your bullet hardness compared to velocity, lube type and bullet sizing; you should have little or no problems with leading in a bore in good shape. Most of the horror stories come from those who buy too hard a bullet, lubed with crayon wax and try to shoot them too slow. In other words, people who don't have a clue as to what they are doing and then turn around and blame the bullet. Just my opinion.

I would like to jump in here. I am new to this site but so far have seen a lot of good info. I am not a caster. I have bought 215 gr LSWC bullets for my 41 Blackhawk but my load is kept under 1000 fps as I have used the load strictly for practice. My hunting loads have always been JHP's or JSP's but I would like to try a 245 gr or 250 grain LSWC. pushed to around 1300 fps. This would be a deer load. Since I am going to be buying commercially how do I tell if the bullet I am buying is too soft or too hard? I have not experienced any leading with my practice load but I didn't expect to at the lower velocity. Reading the posts in this thread has got me wondering like the original post. Cast Performance offers bullets in 250 gr in both plain base and gas checked versions. Do they provide info on the hardness? Cast bullets bought at gun shows have very little info. Most of the people selling them don't know what hardness they are.

The only way to be sure would be to buy a gauge and test them before you buy. Lyman makes one that's not too expensive last time I checked.

I do not claim to be an expert, but when the same batch of bullets do not lead under 1000 fps but do over a 1000 fps, I tend to think it is the speed. Why is it that Alliant does not recomend going over 7 grns of unique under a non gas checked lead bullet? Yet they recommend 11.8 grns under the same weight gas checked bullet?

I find that the bullet lube seems to make a differance too.

If you don't buy a gauge just stay with a good brand Like Cast Performance or the Oregon Trail Trueshots. I prefer the gas checked bullets and I have run the 255 and 265 .41 cal Cast Performance bullets 1800fps+ in my 410GNR and never had any leading problems. I've run several of the CP bullets anywhere from 1200fps to almost 2000fps and never had a leading problem and I've recently started playing with the Oregon Trail Trueshots and so far I haven't had any problem with their stuff, the fastest I've run a True Shot so far is about 1600fps with their 355gr .475 cal in my 475 Linebaughs.

Thanks for the help. I'm going to give them a try. What kind of performance have you had with the cast bullets on deer sized game?